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my 8 month old is refusing to eat

she had a ear infection over 2 weeks ago and was on meds. ever since then she has not eatten right. she is hitting the spoon away and not opening her mouth. she wont eat breakfast and barely tries lunch.

llansky is wrong. Children need to start on pureed/solid foods before they're a year to prepare their bodies for the change. I don't agree that breast milk or formula should be the soul provider of food after they're of 4-6 months of age.

Talk to her doctor and see if there are any side effects like loss of appitite after the medicine has been issued. Was she not eating while she was on the medication?

Actually, breastmilk really is all she needs to survive for the first year. The solids are to teach them to eat. If you notice the labels they have very little calorie content. Some mothers choose not to introduce solids at all until after the first birthday. Jazz needs to do a little more research before calling people out as being wrong.

Answer by
Anonymous
at 11:27 PM on Dec. 24, 2009

My DD is 9 months now and around 7 months she started to do exactly what you described is happening with your LO. Before that she loved to eat! For my DD it was just an independence thing. She didn't want US to feed her, SHE wanted to do it herself. We started putting baby food on her tray and she would put her finger in it and put some in her mouth herself. She also started eating more finger foods that she could pick up herself. After that we tried letting her have the spoon....and sometimes that just helps to distract her enough that I can feed her using another spoon. After she's experimented with feeding herself I can usually get her to let me feed her or I can feed her in between her feeding herself. Try that with your LO and see if it makes a difference. It's messy, but she loves it! Good luck!

JazzLikeMraz, while it isn't something you'd do, it is ok for kids to mostly nurse the first year. My perfectly healthy and thriving 2 and a half year old only began eating a spoonful or two of pureed veggies every 3-4 days until he was 11 months old, and then he showed interest in eating. Breastmilk the entire first year is perfectly fine, and safe, should a family choose that route.